1-184 - Biomarkers of Chronic Stress, Disparities, and Development: Does Hair Cortisol Reflect Minority Experiences Across the Lifespan?

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Integrative biological markers such as hair cortisol, which indexes cumulative cortisol exposure over a period of months, have emerged as a biomarker that reflects chronic stress exposure (e.g., Russell et al., 2012). Given the relative ease of obtaining samples, there is a potential opportunity for the use of hair cortisol to reach a broad population of individuals. Hair cortisol may be particularly promising for the study of stress among vulnerable populations, including children and families, serving as an important key construct toward addressing health disparities within underserved communities. Given the multiple factors associated with hair cortisol (Stalder et al., 2017), a central question is the extent to which stress-related constructs that are meaningful to minority or cultural experiences, and often considered to be “chronic,” can be captured in cortisol obtained from hair. This symposium features three papers that examine hair cortisol across different developmental stages (children, students, and parents) in relation to stress-related constructs salient to racial/ethnic minority communities. These include discrimination stress among a diverse college students (Paper 1), sociodemographic factors such as socioeconomic status and acculturation in immigrant children and parents (Paper 2), and maternal emotion regulation strategies known to vary by culture (emotion suppression) (Paper 3). Our discussant is an expert in the use of biologically based assessment among race/ethnic minorities and will offer a critical evaluation of hair cortisol in the study of psychological and health disparities across development.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chairs

• Cindy Liu, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

• Stacey N Doan, Claremont Mckenna College

Discussant

• Ezemenari Obasi, University of Houston

Individual Presentations

• Hair Cortisol Concentration as an Indicator of Chronic Stress among Ethnic/Racial Minority Young Adults - Presenting Author: Tiffany Yip, Fordham University; Non-Presenting Author: Yuen Mi Cheon, Fordham University; Non-Presenting Author: Paul Smith, Fordham University

• Socio-demographic Factors and Hair Cortisol in Chinese Immigrant Children and Parents - Presenting Author: Cindy Liu, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Non-Presenting Author: Stephen H. Chen, Wellesley College; Non-Presenting Author: Leslie Wang, University of Massachusetts-Boston

• Maternal suppression moderates the relation between maternal and child hair cortisol - Non-Presenting Author: Shruthi Venkatesh, Claremont McKenna College; Non-Presenting Author: Melissa Pedroza, Rutgers University; Non-Presenting Author: Amanda Tarullo, Boston University; Presenting Author: Stacey N Doan, Claremont Mckenna College